My Experience with CCT and BDC

The goal of the following post is to share my experience and to bring awareness and expectations to those who want to spend their hard earned money in their dream truck.

It’s been a month since I’ve had my truck back and little things have been popping up.

I am not a mechanic, that’s why I paid someone to do the work. I expected the person whom I am paying to take pride in their work and to not take advantage of anyone.

Unfortunately, my experience with CCT fell a little short. I think they’re great guys but they have a lot to learn about customer service and especially quality assurance. All they needed to do was to respond to my emails and check behind the work being done.

This is not a personal attack, this post is about my personal experience and from what I have heard I am not the only one. I reached out to Frank Sanchez because I had heard he had issues. Plus we both had similar work done to our trucks.

I can’t remember how I found them but I was exited to learn they were in my state, a 90min drive from Atlanta. 2 hours if you’re in your stock 3speed HMMWV at 55mph, HA!!

When I arrived at his shop I shared with him that I wanted to get it painted and add some creature comforts. We agreed upon the work and price so I decided to leave it up there. He warned me that he was backed up. That was May 15, 2017 and he said it would be done by October 2017. Well… I didn’t get it back until February 23rd, 2018. 9months and 6 days.

I left him with some money, not all because I wanted to have a balance because I’ve dealt with contractors before.

Needless to say I was super mega patient with him. But he still did a rush job on some items. As a matter of fact, Frank Sanchez told me he dropped off his truck in August and got it back in November. That’s right!! He dropped it off later and got it earlier. SMH

There are a lot of good things about his work but that should be the standard.

THE BAD

Bad/low Grade Bolts used on the AC Compressor. I took it up to him at his new place. He was not there so I showed the broken bolts to Greg and showed him where they came from. He immediately said, “That Danielle!! He’s done this before and we have the proper Grade A bolts”. I thought to myself. That’s messed up. This guy admitted to me that he’s done this before. When I brought it up to Matt he shrugged it off.

Fan Switch problem with the Red Dot AC Heater unit. The fan control was not working as it should. Low was High, Medium was Medium, High was High, and Off was High. I would say this is a Red Dot problem but I’d expect that a Dealer of Red Dot that they would insist on a fix.

I contacted Red Dot and they responded the same day with 3 possible solutions. I emailed Paul and Matt and they didn’t respond. I took it up there and I don’t think they paid it any attention. They claim to have tried all solutions but none of them worked. I mean… Call Red Dot and get it fixed. I spent $5,500 for this to work correct!!

X Doors Track. One of the doors window kept falling down. I looked at it and the track was upside down. I took it back and they fixed it. Its a hassle to drive 90min every time there is something wrong but so far they’ve fixed things that have come up.

Missing Items I delivered my truck to them with an antenna mount, pioneer kit, black out light, and brush guard. The antenna mount was added on after and he charged me for it. The brush guard, I wanted it back to sell on the open market but he “threw it away”. He also “threw away” the black out light for which I had to buy a new one from Mike Vaden for $95. He “threw away” the Pioneer Tool Kit. I had to insist on keeping the 4 run flat military tires. Really wish they would have done a better job of keeping track of things.

No Load Flash Module. For $700 for an all around LED kit that did not include the no load flasher module. He even mentioned that it would need it but it was not included. Cost $219 from Levine Auto and Truck Parts. Solves the issue of the turn signals randomly not working properly.

4 Gang Switch. For some reason they chose not to connect the courtesy light for being able to locate the switches in the dark. I think they will fix this if I take it back. Again, the time and hassle to drive 90min/180min to and from.

Rusting. There are a lot of places that for some reason they decided to use improper hardware that is already showing rust.

Water Coming in when it rains. Water comes in from the door and runs down the inside front and lands on the base board. Every time it rains there’s a puddle on both sides, driver and passenger.

The Ugly

This part is pretty much about the unknown issues that has nothing to do with CCT. The nature of the beast, sort of speak. Items, usually mechanically, that pop up due to the age and trying to add comforts and newer technology.

Smart Box. This is responsible for regulating the glow plugs and starting the diesel engine.

Expensive add ons. Back up camera and lights!! DIY!!! I asked CCT how much to add a back up camera and they quote $480!! Did it under $50. Thank you Amazon, patience and elbow grease.

Exhaust Leak. While driving on the highway around 65mph all of a sudden I heard another layer of engine noise. Bad luck I suppose.

General Mechanical Overhaul. Took the truck to Mike Vaden’s Black Dog Customs to look over the truck to make sure mechanically it was sound. He inspected the parts that would typically go bad and suggested others. I had him to do everything he recommended. More than I wanted to spend but well spent for my peace of mind.

Personal Note: Mike Vaden did a fantastic job. Very well respected in the HMMWV community. I would recommend his shop to anyone who wants to restore or update their HMMWV.